As Catholics dutifully sit at home, doing their part to protect vulnerable people from COVID-19, the Holy Spirit has been busy inspiring creative ways to minister in the Archdiocese of Louisville and around the world.

Lenten journeys often take us beyond the ordinary landmarks and horizons of our spiritual lives. The ashes we accepted a few weeks ago were cleansing — they reminded us that Lent is a time for sacrifice. They help us reflect on a salient truth: that our lives are not our own.

As Catholics face uncertainty and sacrifice in navigating a world dominated by COVID-19 this Lent, they can find opportunities to grow spiritually, connect with family and better understand the purpose of our lives, several archdiocesan priests said.

Lent is marked by prayer and fasting, but also “almsgiving,” or works of mercy. Regarding this final category, Christ’s words in Matthew 25:40 are a clear foundation: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”

Liturgically, Lent is a season. Spiritually, some call it a way of life. Whether an inner journey or an in-house parish pilgrimage, however we move through Lent — through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, works of mercy and penance — all are a means to bring us to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. This is a real Lent.

Benedictine Sister Virginia Matter fondly remembers listening to children’s radio programs on Saturday mornings as a youngster in the 1940s. “We didn’t have a television,” she said.
“When I listened to the radio, I learned to use my imagination and envision what was going on,” said Sister Virginia, spiritual director at the Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery in Maplewood, which provides opportunities for spiritual direction, formation and retreats. “It was delightful.”
Her memories resurfaced Feb. 11 when she participated in a group reading of excerpts from “The Man Born to be King,” a book of 12, 45-minute plays for children about Christ’s life originally performed on BBC radio in Great Britain from December 1941 to October 1942.

We are called in this Lenten season to grow in our faith and to be in the shadow of the cross, overcome neither by its threat of death nor the fear it intends to evoke. As people who stand firmly in the face of such intimidation, we know death is vanquished by the power of Jesus’ sacrifice. Easter Sunday must be preceded by the horrors of Good Friday, and as my mother-in-law always said, “There can be no Easter Sunday without Good Friday.” In her wisdom, she meant there will be difficult, and perhaps discouraging, times for all of us as we move through the phases of our lives.